Research
The original proposal for cooling without spontaneous emission
was met with considerable skepticism, but the experiment has worked.
Read more about it here. The left image shows the simulation results described in
here, and the right side is a lineout from that figure at about 200 ns.
It's broadened and smeared by geometrical effects in the measurements.
Research Highlights
Cooling without Spontaneous Emission Works !
Rydberg Atom Decay
Studies on the excitation and interaction with background radiation of helium Rydberg atoms has progressed, as summarized in the recent
thesis work by Xiaoxu Lu. Blackbody radiation induced ionization of Rydberg atoms has been demonstrated to be an important effect
and also a useful tool. Physical separation of the Rydberg helium beam and the metastable ground state helium beam is achieved by
the use of the bichromatic force and yields a precise measurement of the STIRAP efficiency of producing Rydberg atoms.
The process of spontaneous decay and ionization of Rydberg atoms can also be accurately monitored. Read more here.